The “el Tiburon” Brochure – Where There’s A Crowd….There’s an el Tiburon

Henry Covington, Industrial Designer, At Drawing Board at Pardoll In St. Petersburg, Florida.

Hi Gang…

There’s so much to share about vintage fiberglass cars.

One of the reasons I’m publishing stories at a brisk pace is to help create a “body of knowledge” about these cars that everyone has access to via the web. Other interest groups have their body of knowledge – in books, videos, stories, cars, and people. The body of knowledge concerning vintage fiberglass cars has never been put together in exactly the same way as every other car group in the world. They don’t even think about it – from their perspective it has existed forever.

It’s a different ballgame for us gang.

We here at Forgotten Fiberglass aim to change that. And that means we need your help with research, stories, and pictures too. Our “body of knowledge” is being built – before your eyes – on this website, with events at museums, at Concours, and with the help of each of you.

So bear with me as I continue pummeling you with story after story about vintage fiberglass cars. And hopefully, you’ll enjoy some of them along the way too 🙂

The El Tiburon Brochure Emerges:

I’ve been researching the Henry Covington designed “el Tiburon” since 1980. I thought I had found most of what was known about the car. And I’ve worked with the Covington family for years too. So…back in 2006 when I finally acquired a Tiburon Coupe I was excited and embraced the good news with the Covington family too.

And then John Covington, Henry Covington’s son, dropped a bomb on me. He said:

First Prototype of Tiburon Being Built and Tested In July, 1959 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“Geoff…..do you have a copy of the el Tiburon Brochure” my father, Henry Covington, created?”

Tiburon brochure? It took me 25 years to find the hardtop version of the car. And now there was a brochure? How long would it take me to find a copy?

About 2 seconds. Thankfully, John had a copy and scanned it for me. When he sent it to me, he shared the following:

Dear Geoff,

Here is the El Tiburon brochure that I have scanned in color.

It is 16 pages, with three color photographs and three pen & ink sketches done by my dad (Henry Covington, the Designer of the el Tiburon). The front cover has the logo that Dad designed for this car. He styled it with a paintbrush on a poster board after Mom told him “El Tiburon” was Spanish for “The Shark”.

Page 2 has Dad’s pen & ink sketch of a shark in the same pose as the El Tiburon in the photograph. Pages 7 and 8 have sketches of the body and other components of the car that were listed on the price list that you have. Page 10 has a cutaway view showing the profile of the El Tiburon next to a photograph of the same profile.

Page 14 has an advertising slogan that perhaps my dad plagiarized or maybe improvised, “Where there’s a crowd… there’s an El Tiburon”. The last photograph shows the situation that developed everywhere that Dad went in the car. He would be surrounded by onlookers who wanted to see inside every hatch and ask endless questions.

I will send you five pages at a time to keep the files reasonably sized. The last page is the back cover and is blank.

Talk to you soon,

John

Henry Covington’s Son (Either John or Jim) Posing Next To Tiburon Mold In July 1959.

Presenting….the el Tiburon Brochure:

In most cases, I have retyped information when I have presented it so you can see the image and easily read what’s on it as well. For today’s article, I think the pages can be easily read so I have presented the brochure in its entirety below. You can click on any of the images below and it will enlarge on your screen to make it easier to read.

If one of you can’t read the images – let me know. I’ll type up the content and present it under each page.

Summary:

So….one prototype Tiburon was made – and it’s shown in the brochure. Six others were made and two of these have been accounted for. The prototype was destroyed (more about that later) and that leaves 4 Tiburon coupes to be found – and 3 Tiburon roadsters too – that are missing.

About Geoff Hacker

Geoff Hacker, Ph.D. has pursued rare and unusual cars for over 40 years. He is now the premier researcher, archivist and author of the history of handcrafted American sports cars. Hacker owns Undiscovered Classics which finds and restores these rare cars. Their work has led to multiple showings at prestigious concours events including Pebble Beach and Amelia Island. Undiscovered Classics work has been seen on television as well as published extensively in both print and electronic media.
Learn more about Geoff Hacker and Undiscovered Classics by clicking the
following links:
Geoff
Hacker, Ph.D. and/or Undiscovered Classics Portfolio. Geoff can be reached at
Undiscovered.Classics@gmail.com Tampa, Florida (813) 888-8882

WEBSITE &nbspCONTENT:
All content presented on this website is the property ofUndiscovered Classics and Geoffrey R. Hacker, Ph.D.Use of these materials must be authorized by UndiscoveredClassics.comPhotos used with permission from their original source